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Fiery Furcal happy to get off spring schneid

Marlins first base and infield coach Perry Hill discusses working with Rafael Furcal on his transition from shortstop to second base

By Joe Frisaro
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MLB.com |

JUPITER, Fla. -- A bit of frustration set in after Rafael Furcal's second straight hard liner was caught on Wednesday afternoon in the Marlins' 5-2 win over the Mets.

In his first at-bat, Furcal lined out to first base. And in his second at-bat, he threw his hands up in disgust after he stung the ball to right -- for another out.

Finally, in Furcal's third at-bat, he singled to left, giving him his first hit of Spring Training, making him 1-for-7.

"Yesterday, those guys were playing around with me," Furcal said. "'Hey, Rafi, what happened?' I tell them, 'Hey guys, don't hit it where the people are.' I've got to find the hole.

"I'm having fun with my teammates. In my mind, I'm a veteran. I want to go to home plate and have a lot of good, quality at-bats and hit the ball hard."

Furcal, 36, is making the transition from shortstop to second base. One reason the Marlins signed him as a free agent was because of his experience of winning.

The Marlins may be young and they may have lost 100 games last year. But Furcal feels the clubhouse is filled with potential and future All-Stars.

"We have a lot of talent," he said. "The thing is when you want to win, everybody has to be on the same page. Everybody has to be together, 25 guys. Play with the same intensity every day.

"On this team, a lot of guys are going to be All-Star players. You've got [Giancarlo] Stanton. You've got [Christian] Yelich, [Adeiny] Hechavarria, [Marcell] Ozuna. And this guy, [Jose] Fernandez. You've got a lot of good pitching and a lot of young players. They're going to be All-Star guys. I'm so excited to be around and help them as much as I can. We'll see what happens. Everybody is hungry to win."